A College in Liverpool

Chapter 4: Sunrise Lake

Rita's POV
          "Damn it!" I cursed, waking up from my sleep. In the bed next to me, Elizabeth stirred.
          "What is it Rita?" she yawned.
"I forgot my purse at the lake!" I shouted.
"You want me to come with you to get it?" Elizabeth asked, now sitting up in bed.
          "No it's okay, I'll go on my own. It's early anyway. You might as well go to sleep." I suggested. She easily agreed and fell back to sleep. I jogged back to the lake, hoping no one had taken it yet. When I got there, a man with messy brown hair was sitting near the lake with his back turned to me. No one else was around, and I was pretty sure he was sitting right in the area I had sat the previous day.
          "Excuse me sir, have you seen a navy blue purse around here?" I asked the man. He turned around holding my purse in his hand.
          "Is this what you were looking for?" The man was John.
         "John! I didn't recognize you for a second! What are you doing here so early in the morning?"
          "Enough with the questions. This is your purse right?" he motioned toward the bag with his other hand.
          "Yes! Thank you," I said as he gave me the bag. "You know you have the worse case of a bed head. With that hair I barely recognized you." he blushed slightly but quickly furrowed his eyebrows and gave me a serious look.
          "The truth is I came here because I saw you here yesterday, and noticed you had left your purse here. I figured you'd come back for it today, so I came here early in the morning."
          "It would've made more sense if you had just dropped it off at my dorm," I explained.
          "I don't know where your dorm is!" he protested.
          "You could've called me!" I replied.
          "I don't have your phone number," he sighed.
          "Oh, haha, sorry. You want to exchange numbers now?" I asked taking my phone out from my newly found purse. "I don't know if this thing has batteries but I can still give you my num-" John cut me off  when he touched my arm.
          "Actually I probably could've found a way to give it to you easily. But I wanted this to be somewhat romantic," he said. I laughed. When I noticed he was serious I stopped.
          "Wait John, why'd you want this to be romantic?" I asked. The sun began to rise, the glow casted down onto the lake, creating a shimmer that reflected into his brown eyes.
          "Rita, will you go out with me?" he asked, holding my hands in his.
          "What?" I gasped. Nothing had fully processed with me yet, and I hoped that hearing my own voice would show me if this was really all a dream.
          "Damn it Rita! Will you date me?" he repeated.
          "Yeah, sure." I said. He quickly pulled me in and kissed me. My lips touched his and the world seemed to stop, just for a moment. He wrapped his arms around my body, and I wrapped mine around his. He smiled at my response to his affection.
          "I'm so glad Rita," he smiled. He lifted me off the ground bridal style.
         "God I'm happy too John, but do you really have to do this?" I laughed. He laughed with me.
          "You deserve to be treated like a princess." he said.
          "I prefer to be a queen," I said with mock sass.
          "Okay Queen Rita,"
          "Oh shut up John," I said. He put me down. I held his hand. "I know we literally just started dating, but I think I love you," I confessed.
          "I think so too." he said. And with that, we walked together hand in hand. The sun was now very bright, and sounds of life seemed to be all around us. Birds chirped and ducks quacked. It was as if it was a beginning of a new time. A new love, and a new life.

A/N: A very short chapter, I know. That's only because I wanted this chapter to be specifically for Rita and John. I might even make another chapter today, if time allows. Thanks for reading! Peace out!